I bought an L200 this weekend at an auction with 150k miles for $700. Car runs and drives great but it needed rear brakes, and I was like hey, no problem, I can scoop this up for a deal, throw some brakes in it, clean it up really nice and make some money on it.

Unfortunately for me I got it up on a hoist last night and rear brakes will be next to impossible to replace -- the rotors are shot because the pads are grinding, the calipers are rusted over and look like chocolate cake and I'm sure will win the fight if I try to take them off, and the brake lines leading up to it are completely rusted so it looks like one solid piece of metal. The brakes lines in the middle of the car are also rusted over so badly that they look like they might begin leaking if I look at them the wrong way.

Furthermore, the engine cradle is completely rusted through where it bolts to the car, and has more rust holes around the radiator. I don't think the car is worth $1500 in brakes and whatever time and labor would be involved to replace the cradle. I bought this car to flip but it appears that I got burned and this is probably why the car found itself at an auction.

I don't want to clean it up and sell it to someone unsuspecting, but I'm not sure of what else to do. I don't want to take a $400-$500 loss and just give it to a scrap yard, especially when it runs and drives as well as it does and the body and interior themselves are not in bad shape at all. What are your guys' thoughts? :ugh:

Dsaturn

12-06-2017 08:47 AM

Re: Auction car woes

Part it out. No offense but I hope you learned a lesson, Anytime you buy a used car look under it to check for those problems. That is the first place I always look because even if the car has low miles but is to rusty to repair it is only worth either parts price or the going junk rate at the scrap yard.

CoolUsername

12-06-2017 01:20 PM

Re: Auction car woes

[QUOTE=Dsaturn;2260790]Part it out. No offense but I hope you learned a lesson, Anytime you buy a used car look under it to check for those problems. That is the first place I always look because even if the car has low miles but is to rusty to repair it is only worth either parts price or the going junk rate at the scrap yard.[/QUOTE]

The highest price I've found so far is $150 if I drop it off -- makes me sad since it runs and drives well. I bought this one sight unseen which worked out on the first car I did (an S-series) but evidently this one won't pan out in the same fashion.

pierrot

12-06-2017 03:27 PM

Re: Auction car woes

[FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="3"]Yup, it's a shame that you're having to deal with a car that has a bad undercarriage, but a good powertrain. You were very fortunate that things went well with your first Saturn purchase. I'm sorry that you may end up taking a loss on this venture, but we all take certain risks in life that sometimes go against us.

BTW, what part of the country are you located in?[/SIZE][/FONT]

CoolUsername

12-06-2017 04:04 PM

Re: Auction car woes

[QUOTE=pierrot;2260828][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="3"]Yup, it's a shame that you're having to deal with a car that has a bad undercarriage, but a good powertrain. You were very fortunate that things went well with your first Saturn purchase. I'm sorry that you may end up taking a loss on this venture, but we all take certain risks in life that sometimes go against us.

BTW, what part of the country are you located in?[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Minnesota, head of the salt belt. I used to work as a lube tech in a shop, I've seen this kind of thing before. We even had a Neon in at one time where the cradle completely gave way... and they fixed it.

I guess I need to find a new hobby, I can't handle another loss of this magnitude especially when I started doing this for extra cash since I don't earn a lot. I was hoping I could at least find somewhere around me that would take the car in hopes to part it out rather than just straight up scrap it, but oh well. I feel bad for it!

Dsaturn

12-06-2017 05:50 PM

Re: Auction car woes

Look on Facebook for local yard sale and auto sale pages. Try to sell it for parts on there or craigs list. Be a shame to just crush it as parts for these cars are getting hard to find.

CoolUsername

12-07-2017 05:55 PM

Re: Auction car woes

I got a quote from the shop I used to work at. They said a little over four hours of labor to replace the cradle, so $350. $300 for the cradle itself off of eBay. I'm hoping I can sell the car for $1800 and I'm $700 deep. What are the chances I can replace brake lines, calipers, pads and rotors for $500?

I just hate the see this car get scrapped for this stupid reason. If I can save her I will!

Dsaturn

12-07-2017 10:06 PM

Re: Auction car woes

Go to rock auto and look for parts to see what they would add up to. $1800 may be a little to high. Bluebook is about $1500. I guess I am spoiled with my $400 plus $200 in parts 2002 l200 rust free car that had the engine replaced from a JY

Just remember you never get out of them what you put in to them.

pierrot

12-08-2017 12:37 AM

Re: Auction car woes

[QUOTE=CoolUsername;2260897]I got a quote from the shop I used to work at. They said a little over four hours of labor to replace the cradle, so $350. $300 for the cradle itself off of eBay. I'm hoping I can sell the car for $1800 and I'm $700 deep. What are the chances I can replace brake lines, calipers, pads and rotors for $500?

I just hate the see this car get scrapped for this stupid reason. If I can save her I will![/QUOTE][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="blud"]Using the lowest cost, but respectable parts brands, [B][U] and excluding core charges and shipping costs[/COLOR][/U][/B] for two rear rotors and two loaded reman. calipers (pads included) from RockAuto.com the base purchase price can be as low as $156.00.

Unless you intend to find brake lines from a wrecking yard, aftermarket bendable steel lines are inexpensive. Call around first and ask if stores near you have these steel brake lines. It's becoming a bit more rare for stores to stock these items. ([I]We always had them at my father's auto parts store[/I]). You need to have the correct size fittings on them so you'd need to be able to match them with a sample from your car. A tubing bender tool might be required, and perhaps one could be loaned from an AutoZone, O'Reilly's, or some other store. If a purchase is necessary then they're not expensive. In any event, your basic parts costs should still be at, or under $200.00 including the replacement steel brake lines. If you can do the labor yourself then you've helped your "cause" out a bit more. You'd probably need two bottles of brake fluid just to be sure you've got enough on hand. The place with the least expensive price for that is Wal-Mart, generally.

Depending on the condition of the cores it's possible that they may be rejected as not rebuildable. A sheet listing the reasons for core rejections can sometimes be found in the boxes the replacement parts have been shipped in. Core costs for the AC Delco calipers I looked at were $30.00 each.

In short, yes, I believe that you should be able to replace the rear brake parts for $500.00 by making prudent decisions regarding the parts purchases.[/SIZE][/FONT]

CoolUsername

12-08-2017 08:24 AM

Re: Auction car woes

[QUOTE=Dsaturn;2260916]Go to rock auto and look for parts to see what they would add up to. $1800 may be a little to high. Bluebook is about $1500. I guess I am spoiled with my $400 plus $200 in parts 2002 l200 rust free car that had the engine replaced from a JY

Just remember you never get out of them what you put in to them.[/QUOTE]

I recognize that I'd be asking a bit high, but I don't really have any comparable cars in my area on Craigslist, so I'm going a bit below the cost of some of the plentiful newer Ions in my area since they seem to be the most similar. I guess as a buyer I'd be pretty excited buying a car that had this sort of major work done.

My thought process is that if I lose $300 in fixing it up and selling it, it's better than losing $500 scrapping it.

[QUOTE=pierrot;2260929][FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="3"][COLOR="blud"]Using the lowest cost, but respectable parts brands, [B][U] and excluding core charges and shipping costs[/COLOR][/U][/B] for two rear rotors and two loaded reman. calipers (pads included) from RockAuto.com the base purchase price can be as low as $156.00.

Unless you intend to find brake lines from a wrecking yard, aftermarket bendable steel lines are inexpensive. Call around first and ask if stores near you have these steel brake lines. It's becoming a bit more rare for stores to stock these items. ([I]We always had them at my father's auto parts store[/I]). You need to have the correct size fittings on them so you'd need to be able to match them with a sample from your car. A tubing bender tool might be required, and perhaps one could be loaned from an AutoZone, O'Reilly's, or some other store. If a purchase is necessary then they're not expensive. In any event, your basic parts costs should still be at, or under $200.00 including the replacement steel brake lines. If you can do the labor yourself then you've helped your "cause" out a bit more. You'd probably need two bottles of brake fluid just to be sure you've got enough on hand. The place with the least expensive price for that is Wal-Mart, generally.

Depending on the condition of the cores it's possible that they may be rejected as not rebuildable. A sheet listing the reasons for core rejections can sometimes be found in the boxes the replacement parts have been shipped in. Core costs for the AC Delco calipers I looked at were $30.00 each.

In short, yes, I believe that you should be able to replace the rear brake parts for $500.00 by making prudent decisions regarding the parts purchases.[/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Oh yes, I've got a number of Rockauto magnets on my fridge. I would guess I wouldn't be getting my core money back, the ones on the car are trashed from corrosion and I don't think they're come off easy either -- but you never know.

I've looked at pricing for parts on Rockauto already and I'm content with pricing I've found, my main concern is the brake lines. I've never done them before and I'm not sure how difficult they are to install. I would assume the process itself is pretty straightforward but I'm sure it can be a PITA. I was wondering if I could have a shop redo those as well but that's expensive labor and I couldn't drive it home with just that work done either as I'd rather do the brakes themselves myself.

Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. :)

pierrot

12-08-2017 07:28 PM

Re: Auction car woes

[FONT="Palatino Linotype"][SIZE="3"]I would think that a repair shop replacing your steel brake lines shouldn't charge you more than two hours of labor. My only caveat to that would be if they were having significant difficulty removing the lines. My hunch would be that it shouldn't really take more than one hour of labor time.

As stated previously, one line would need to be removed to be used for comparison and size matching. When using aftermarket lines one cannot have bending exactly as the factory originals which came out of a specific production run of such parts. It may require more than one piece to make up the needed length to equal the original part. A union fitting would join the pieces together. This typically means that your new replacement lines will be somewhat longer than the originals. (If I were headed out to a pick-a-part type of wrecking yard I'd be happy to find the brake lines from a donor L-Series sedan for you, but I have no idea when I might be doing that.)

If you are capable of performing the brake job then you can certainly handle the required improvisation of installing aftermarket steel brake lines. :yes: Remember that this repair requires the use of line wrenches. Common open end wrenches will not suffice.[/SIZE][/FONT]